Hasta La Gadget!

This article was written on May 01, 2007 by CyberNet.

Time Saving Tuesday

We have raved about the free PhraseExpress software before, and we are going to do it again! They recently released version 4 of their application, and the enhancements it has will make you so much more productive that you’ll be wondering how you got by without using it!

The concept behind PhraseExpress is extremely simple: you type some text in an application and PhraseExpress will automatically replace that text with something else. When would that be useful? Well, I’m sure you use abbreviations all of the time without even thinking about it. Take for example a chat conversation where you type messages like BRB (be right back) or TTYL (talk to you later). You probably use those abbreviations because they are faster to type, but you can setup PhraseExpress to automatically kick the habit of sending abbreviated phrases!

The newest version of PhraseExpress has all sorts of enhancements that take the program beyond just being a simple text replacement utility:

• Formatted text and bitmaps: This is great news for people who have signatures that they automatically want inserted when composing an email or document. I’ll explain more about this below.
  
• Automatic spelling corrections: This is just like Microsoft Word because PhraseExpress will automatically correct misspellings of thousands of the most common words. Having this feature when composing emails or typing comments in a browser is extremely handy!
• Assign multiple phrases to an Autotext: With this feature you can essentially have multiple phrases assigned to a single “keyword.” Whenever you type that keyword you will be presented with a drop-down menu for you to select which phrase you would like inserted:
  
• Assign multiple Autotexts to a phrase: This is the opposite of the previous bullet because this lets you setup multiple Autotexts (or keywords as I like to call them) for a single phrase. This is useful if you have a hard time remembering what Autotext you assigned to a phrase. An example of this is seen below with the default “.com” auto replacement that is setup. If you mistype “.com” with any of the variations listed it will automatically correct it for you.
  

There is a whole lot more that is new in PhraseExpress 4, but what I have listed above are the most beneficial for me. There are a few kinks that I have noticed with the formatted text and bitmaps addition though:

• To copy a Bitmap image or formatted text into a signature you actually need to highlight it in either a browser or in a document. Then click on the PhraseExpress icon in the System Tray and select the “Create new phrase” option. This will prompt you with a dialog box to save the highlighted text, but you need to make sure the “Save text formatting” box is checked. Click here for more detailed instructions.
• Saving formatting in Firefox doesn’t seem to work, so you’ll either need to use Internet Explorer or an application that supports text formatting/bitmaps if you want to save anything besides for a plain text phrase.
• When originally seeing the image support feature I must have bypassed the word “Bitmap” in the description. I spent about 15 minutes trying to get a JPEG image to be saved in an email signature, but it just wouldn’t work. I’m guessing that the image must be saved in the Bitmap format for this feature to work properly.

There’s a lot more that you can do in PhraseExpress, which are all explained more in the manual. Here are a few of the tips that might be the most helpful for you:

• Add the current date to a phrase
• Call a phrase within another phrase
• Add manual text input to a phrase
• Create an email from a phrase
• Launch an application from a phrase
• Open a file from a phrase
• Open a webpage from a phrase
• Add a special key into a phrase

Download PhraseExpress 4

Copyright © 2011 CyberNetNews.com

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Yeee-haw, Apple buckaroos! Whooz ready for some good timin’, multitaskin’? Who wants their iPhone served up with a hot bucket’a grits? HOOOOOOOOOOO BOY. Jonny Ive’s deep in the hooch pan again? Saddle up, grab yer partner, and let’s make some truck-ugly apps! More »

If you’ve unboxed a shiny new iPhone 4S from AT&T today, you’ve most likely had an experience similar to many others who made the same purchase: frustration. It seems that the surge in activity from the release of Apple’s new handset has reduced activation traffic on Ma Bell’s network to a crawl. This isn’t the first time the carrier has had issues on launch day — but back then, it didn’t have any competition. Now that Verizon and Sprint have joined the iPhone party, the pressure’s on and AT&T’s not looking good compared to the other carriers who don’t appear to be having issues. As if that weren’t enough for the folks in Cupertino, iCloud had a rocky debut this week as well — from absent verification emails to an inability to backup data. Apple has documented all five of the new service’s foibles via the coverage link below, but it appears everything’s been peachy since early this morning. So, have you been waiting for your new iPhone to be more than a shiny new paperweight? Leave a comment, and let us know.

[Thanks to everyone who sent this in]

iPhone 4S welcomed by AT&T activation delays, iCloud stumbles out of the gate originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 14 Oct 2011 17:38:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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This isn’t the iPhone 5. No matter how badly you wanted something slim, sleek and wedge-shaped, this isn’t it. If you went ahead and got your hopes up ahead of Apple’s “Let’s Talk iPhone” event, hopefully you’ve gotten over the pangs of discontent by now, because this device pictured front and center is the iPhone 4S. It’s a new spin on an old phone that will shock none, but give it half a chance, and it will still impress.

The iPhone 4S comes with a faster processor, a better camera, a smarter virtual assistant and twice the storage of its predecessor — if you don’t mind paying for it. Like the iPhone 3GS did before to the 3G, the 4S bumps the iPhone 4 down to second-class status, leaving those Apple fans who must have the best aspiring to own its decidedly familiar exterior. Apple says this is the most amazing iPhone ever. Is it? Yes, of course it is, but read on to see whether it’s really worth an upgrade.

Continue reading iPhone 4S review

iPhone 4S review originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 14 Oct 2011 16:15:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Cloud is a magic tech word today. “i” has been a golden prefix in tech for over a decade. iCloud, the holiest union of the two, could be the future of computing. For now? It’s super convenient! But that’s it. More »